Imam Khamenei to Abe: Trump Not Worth of a Reply

Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenei told visiting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that US President Donald Trump as a person not worthy of a response.

“We have no doubts about your (Japan’s) goodwill and seriousness, but regarding what you quoted from the US president, I personally do not consider Trump worthy of exchanging any messages with, and do not have and will not have any response for him,” the Leader said as he received Abe on Thursday.

The Leader said Iran has “no trust” in the United States and will not at all “repeat the bitter experience” it gained from the negotiations that led to the conclusion of a 2015 nuclear deal, which Washington later ditched.

“Iran engaged in talks with the US and the Europeans for some five or six years, and achieved a result. The Americans, however, breached a done deal,” said the Leader, emphasizing that no wise man would enter talks with a country that has reneged on all agreements.

Imam Khamenei further rejected as “a lie” Trump’s claim that he was not after regime change in Iran, saying if the US president were able to bring about such a change, he would definitely go for it.

The Leader dismissed Washington’s claim of readiness for “honest negotiations” with Tehran, saying “honesty is highly scarce among American statesmen.”

On the other hand, his eminence reaffirmed the Islamic Republic’s firm opposition to the development and use of nuclear weapons.

“I have issued a fatwa (religious decree) prohibiting the production of nuclear weapons, but you need to know that if we were after building nuclear arms, the United States could not do anything about it,” Ayatollah Khamenei said.

Washington is in no position to decide which country can be in possession of nuclear arms while it is, itself, stockpiling several thousands of nuclear warheads, Imam Khamenei said.